


iced vanilla latte

by erinyes_grace



Category: Produce 101 (TV), UP10TION, VICTON (Band), X1 (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Fluff, M/M, byungchan kinda plays a pivotal role, everybody say thank you byungchan, i was gonna tag this with as a lawyer!AU but no this is not that kinda fic, seungwoo has a slight hyung kink but it's PG rated, seungyoun + dohyon are mentioned once, yes i love seungwoo's hands, yohan + hangyul are cute baristas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-05
Updated: 2019-09-05
Packaged: 2020-10-10 13:49:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20529053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/erinyes_grace/pseuds/erinyes_grace
Summary: Café owner!Seungwoo x Paralegal!WooseokBasically a story of how a newbie at a law firm (Wooseok) met (and fell in love with) a cute café owner called Han Seungwoo.Moral of the story: everyone needs a Han Seungwoo in their lives.





	iced vanilla latte

**Author's Note:**

> there are only 26 works in the seungwoo/wooseok tag wtf. i must contribute

PART I

As summer merged into autumn; as the leaves on the evergreen trees… stayed green—for many people, this marked the start of a new chapter in their lives. For Kim Wooseok, a law graduate fresh out of university, this was an especially daunting chapter to have flipped to.

_It sure is hard being a newbie at a law firm,_ Wooseok thought as he dragged himself out of the business building his firm was situated in. On the very first day of his new job as a paralegal, he was sent out—not on an errand to a court—but to the café down the road to buy his seniors some coffee. The solicitor he assisted, Seungyoun, had patted him on the back and told him with sympathy that all the employees in the firm had lived through the same treatment. Wooseok had nodded, his expression unchanged despite giving a middle finger and a loud _fuck you_ inside. He had stayed up till 4am the night before, preparing for his first day as a paralegal; he was not prepared for this bullshit.

Wooseok ruffled his hair and tried to rub the sleep out of his eyes as he trudged down the street to the café according to Seungyoun’s rushed directions to him before he left. There was a simplistic white-and-brown sign hanging above the narrow entrance—_vanilla bean café_. Wooseok’s eyebrows twitched. How much did the owner love vanilla, to even name his café after it?

As Wooseok pushed open the unexpectedly heavy door, a bell rang crisply and loudly above his head. If he were anything like his cousin Dohyun, he probably would have jumped a few metres into the air whilst screaming—thank god he wasn’t. Wooseok peered around the café curiously—to his surprise, the interior design was very much aesthetic and exuded a cosy atmosphere. There were the normal tables at the front of the little space, but what really caught Wooseok’s attention were the secluded booths tucked away near the back. Had he known there was such a place back in his university days, he would definitely have come here to study instead of camping out in the library and fighting for seats. There was one other customer in the café, a woman in her 20s furiously typing away on her laptop. _Seems like an assignment deadline_, Wooseok thought, an empathetic smile tugging at his lips.

A low cough dragged Wooseok out of his daydreams. He turned his eyes to the source of the sound, and there stood, behind the counter, a man that was pretty handsome even by Wooseok’s standards. _I want his hair colour_, a sleepy Wooseok contemplated as he stared at the man’s blue-grey hair.

The unnamed man with the nice hair colour cleared his throat, “Hello, how can I help you today?”

Wooseok squinted as he tried to see what the café had on their menu board behind the man. Unknowingly, he had spoken what he was thinking, “Why are the words so small?”

The man’s eyes turned into pretty crescents as he tried to suppress a laugh. He handed Wooseok a laminated piece of paper, “Here’s the menu.”

_Oh_. Wooseok stared for a second, and then realised that they had a paper version of the menu. Blaming all his blunders today on his lack of sleep, Wooseok scanned the menu—they had all the basic café drinks. Since it was the start of autumn and the weather was still quite warm, Wooseok decided to get iced Americanos for all of his seniors and himself. The man nodded as he noted down Wooseok’s order, but all Wooseok could focus on was the way the man’s sleeves were rolled up, exposing his toned lower arm. _I wish I had his build_, Wooseok thought as he stared, perhaps a little too obviously. The man turned his head and yelled at the back kitchen, presumably for his employees to come and attend to Wooseok’s order. _So he’s the owner_, Wooseok mused.

Wooseok prided himself on his observational skills; they were how he managed to still have friends despite being so stoic all the time. What he didn’t notice, though, was the man’s larger than usual smile when he turned around.

“Six iced Americanos for Wooseok?” A husky voice called out.

Wooseok retrieved his order, nodding to the barista and simultaneously reading his nametag, “Thanks, uh, Hangyul.”

“No problem! Also, Seungwoo-hyung told me to give this to you, it’s on the house.” Hangyul handed Wooseok a serviette folded over something in the middle.

Whilst juggling the drink carrier in one hand, Wooseok opened the serviette with the other and raised an eyebrow at Hangyul, who was waiting to see his reaction.

“It’s a vanilla slice,” the young barista told him, “I can guarantee that you will like it, because Seungwoo-hyung made it.”

“Seungwoo… hyung is your boss, right? The one that took my order?” Wooseok tilted his head inquisitively.

The other nodded in affirmation, “He said that you looked, uh, like shit, so he wanted to give you this to cheer you up.”

Wooseok grimaced, was it that obvious? To be spared from embarrassing himself any further, he took a bite out of the vanilla slice. As the sweet vanilla flavour hit his tongue in all the right spots, Wooseok shut his eyes momentarily to savour the cake. A small smile appeared on his face, and when he opened his eyes again, he spotted Nice Hair Colour Man—no, Seungwoo—leaning against the kitchen’s doorframe. Out of courtesy and pure respect for his baking skills, Wooseok nodded at the man, who offered a similar gesture but with more mirth at Wooseok. _Why is everything he does so cool, the hell_.

Bidding a final goodbye to Hangyul, Wooseok left the café to return to his seniors with the products of his errand.

PART II

Aside from the coffee rounds, work at the law firm was generally busy. A week had passed in the blink of an eye, but at the same time it also felt begrudgingly long to Wooseok. Every morning in the past week, he had gotten into the routine of getting Americanos before work from the vanilla bean café. He didn’t see Seungwoo again, however, only ever Hangyul and another employee named Yohan. Wooseok would never in a million years admit to himself that maybe, just _maybe_, he was a tad disappointed.

It was a dark, gloomy day when he saw Seungwoo again. Everything on the day before had gone terribly wrong for Wooseok, from depositing files into the wrong folder to accidentally shredding a whole stack of original confidential client documents. Being the responsible adult that he is, Wooseok had stayed up almost all night to correct his mistakes. When he turned up to the café in the morning, he was certain that he had never looked worse in his life. As luck would have it, he was greeted with a familiar cough as he stepped inside. Wooseok almost wanted to turn on his heels and pretend that he never set foot inside the café, but it was too late.

“Wooseok, was it? Welcome.” Seungwoo looked up, his soft voice a stark contrast against the annoying sound of the doorbell.

Wooseok robotically nodded, internally wishing that he could just vanish on the spot, “I’ll just get six regular iced Americanos again, thank you.”

To Wooseok’s surprise, this time Seungwoo took care of the order himself. Wooseok hesitated before asking, “Where are Hangyul and Yohan?”

“You really like them, huh,” Seungwoo looked up at him with a lopsided smile _that was too pretty to be legal_, “I gave them time off to celebrate Chuseok with their families. It’s not that busy around here anyways.”

“Ah, Chuseok is coming up,” Wooseok nodded, hoping that he was the only one sensing the awkwardness that laced the atmosphere.

Instead of remaining silent, the man turned to Wooseok whilst his hands were busy with the coffee machine, “Do you drink Americano, too?”

The sharp change in topic visibly confused Wooseok, “Yes?”

“Shame, you seem like a vanilla person to me,” Seungwoo hummed, a smile forever etched on his face, “I make a great vanilla latte.”

After pondering for a few seconds, the man added, “Vanilla is my favourite thing in the world.”

Wooseok awkwardly laughed, why did he feel like those words had a double meaning to them? Besides, no way in hell was Wooseok ever going to reveal that he was actually a sucker for sweet things. If he caved in and ordered a vanilla latte, it would only make him stand out like a sore thumb from the rest of his colleagues at the firm, who were _mature_ enough to only like Americanos and long blacks.

Sensing his adamant refusal, Seungwoo shook his head, still smiling. By the time Wooseok finished his nonsensical musings, Seungwoo was already placing the drinks in the drink carrier. As Wooseok paced towards the door with the drinks in hand, he froze as he saw a flash of lightning outside, followed almost immediately by loud booms of thunder. He remembered reading the weather forecast and thinking that he needed to bring an umbrella. Wooseok belatedly realised that his lack of sleep caused a side effect stronger than any others: stupidity.

Footsteps approached. A black umbrella appeared in front of him, held by a pale hand. The umbrella looked tiny in Seungwoo’s hand, Wooseok observed, perhaps with ill-timing considering the circumstances. _I wish I had his hands, too_.

“Here, take this.”

Wooseok was uncertain, “Are you sure? My workplace is just five minutes’ walk away.”

The other man glanced at him disapprovingly, “Five minutes, in this weather?”

Wooseok bit his lip, “I… will bring it back after work then. Thank you, Seungwoo-hyung.”

Suddenly there was a silence. It was difficult to see Seungwoo’s expression due to his fringe, and Wooseok was too chicken to stare at his face anyway. Out of his peripheral vision, Wooseok swore that the tips of the man’s ears were redder than before—or maybe that was just wishful thinking on his part.

Straightening up, Seungwoo cleared his throat, “No need to. I have another umbrella in the back, so just return that one to me any time. It’s probably going to rain this afternoon, too.”

Upon hearing this, Wooseok muttered a “thanks” and took the umbrella from Seungwoo’s outstretched hand. It would be too rude to say anything else to Seungwoo’s sincere face. The other man held open the door for him since his hands were quite full, and Wooseok looked up at him, pressing his lips into a small, reserved smile as he walked past Seungwoo. As the door creaked close behind him, Wooseok could once again hear the doorbell. Strangely enough, perhaps because of the rain pit-patting against the umbrella, Wooseok did not find the bell much irritating this time.

PART III

As per his usual schedule, Wooseok swung by the vanilla bean café before going to work the next day. He had mentally prepared scripts of small talk with the tall (and handsome) café owner, just in case the awkwardness set in again. Wooseok knew he was awkward by nature with new people, but usually it would get better after a few conversations. With Seungwoo, that was clearly not the case. Being as self-reflective as he was, Wooseok figured that it was probably because he was always so concerned with what the other thought of him—but why was that?

Wooseok’s trail of thought was abruptly halted as he came to a stop before the entrance to the café. The sign that usually read “Come in, we’re OPEN!” had been flipped to the side that read “Sorry, we’re CLOSED.” Wooseok frowned. Even when both of the two employees were off on holiday, the owner himself would be there, maintaining business as usual. What happened? Without realising himself, Wooseok felt a tinge of worry in his gut. He had no way to even contact Seungwoo—his biggest regret was probably not getting Seungwoo’s phone number, and this he similarly blamed on his sleepy self.

_I guess there’s no coffee today_, Wooseok thought grimly.

The weather had long since cleared. For three days in a row, Wooseok would walk past the familiar wooden door and the cold sign hung on it, and both would have no trace of any human touch. Wooseok couldn’t understand why he was so concerned about someone he met barely two weeks ago. _It’s the sleepiness_, Wooseok mused in an almost mantra-like fashion.

He was getting off work when he met a man called Byungchan, right in front of the vanilla bean café. Wooseok narrowed his eyes at the suspicious man, who was fumbling with a bunch of keys, trying to enter the café through the front door. Contrary to his usual reserved self, Wooseok approached the focused stranger and tapped him on the shoulder. The man jumped, swearing, before turning to face Wooseok.

“How can I help you…?” The man tentatively asked whilst not-so-subtly adjusting himself into a fight or flight position, probably thinking that Wooseok was going to rob him or something.

Wooseok scoffed—rob him, with his height? The man before him was about as tall as Seungwoo; Wooseok had immense doubts about robbing someone of that calibre. Wooseok gestured to the café, “Do you know the owner? I’m a regular customer here and I saw you trying to… break in.”

The other man’s eyes widened, “No! It’s not like that! I’m Han Seungwoo’s friend, Byungchan. I came to get some vanilla syrup for him, he ran out at home. You can ask him! When he gets better, at least.” Byungchan suddenly seemed to have come to an epiphany as he snapped his fingers, “You’re Wooseok, aren’t you?”

Wooseok furrowed his eyebrows as the questions shot out of his mouth, “What do you mean, when he gets better? Is he… sick? How do you know me?”

The doe-eyed man looked taken back, and after a short pause, he whispered, “Seungwoo-hyung said you don’t talk much…” His voice trailed off.

Wooseok sighed as he rubbed his forehead, “Sorry for bombarding you with questions like that. It’s just that the café has been closed for the past couple of days, and I miss hi- his coffee.”

“You guys are better friends than I thought,” Byungchan muttered, probably to himself. He looked up at Wooseok, “He was already sick, but then he got even sicker after that horrible storm the other day—apparently he walked in the rain for fifteen minutes with no umbrella? Quite a stupid thing to do, if you ask me.” Byungchan then perked up, “Why don’t you go visit him? He’s been cooped up in his apartment because he’s sick, so I think he would really appreciate it if a friend aside from me visited—he probably got tired of me.”

Were they good friends? Wooseok wasn’t so sure. To Seungwoo, he was probably just another regular customer, who looked like shit half the time because he got no sleep.

“We… No, never mind,” Wooseok was tempted to clarify that they were mere acquaintances, but a tinge of guilt stabbed away at his stomach. It was his fault that Seungwoo was this sick. It was him that took Seungwoo’s umbrella. He should have realised that he was already sick, with the way that Seungwoo coughed every time he was there, but he didn’t because he was so stupid.

Instead of replying to Byungchan, Wooseok asked about Seungwoo’s sickness. Wooseok was determined to make it up to Seungwoo in his own way.

Wooseok was never one for navigating the unknown—this one he couldn’t blame on his lack of sleep, since he had always been bad at directions. Google Maps told him that the nearest pharmacy was half an hour away, but Wooseok, being as talented as he was, somehow made that journey into an hour-long one.

When he reached Seungwoo’s apartment, it was already almost 7pm. For a moment, he considered the possibility that Seungwoo might be asleep. Praying that he was awake, Wooseok pressed the doorbell button with his one free hand. Thankfully, he could hear footsteps approaching the door on the other side.

“Who is it?” A lazy, honey-like voice drawled out, except it was more nasally than he had remembered.

_That sounds serious_, Wooseok frowned. “It’s Wooseok.”

The door was yanked open from the inside. “Wooseok? Why are you here? No, how did you-” Seungwoo’s face was good-looking as always, Wooseok observed, but just a little more haggard, presumably from his fever.

“I met Byungchan, and he told me,” Wooseok said as he was let in by Seungwoo, “I have your vanilla syrup, too.”

As Seungwoo bent down to search for some spare slippers for Wooseok, he mumbled, “I’m going to kill him.”

“Pardon?” Wooseok felt like he heard something he shouldn’t have—would he be considered an accomplice in Byungchan’s murder? He should ask Seungyoun. When the other did not respond, instead handing him the slippers, Wooseok gestured to the big plastic bag in his hand, “I brought you some medicine.”

For once, Seungwoo looked confused. Wooseok hurriedly explained, “I just passed by a pharmacy as I walked here from the café.”

Wooseok watched as a smile crawled its way onto Seungwoo’s face, as if he could see right through the younger male. As smart as Wooseok was—he survived law school, after all—he realised why almost immediately. He wanted to slap himself—Seungwoo walked to and from the café every day, there was no way he couldn’t have known that there was no pharmacy in the vicinity of the route. As an aftereffect of telling a lie that had most likely been seen through, Wooseok could feel his cheeks heat up—but Seungwoo had not said anything, so Wooseok was determined to keep up his façade.

Seemingly amused by his frustration at himself, Seungwoo laughed and patted Wooseok on the head. His actions flowed so naturally that neither of them realised what happened for a whole minute, and then it was silence.

Probably to break up the awkwardness that had once again settled in, Seungwoo said in a lowered voice, “I promise you, I’ll be back tomorrow.”

Wooseok avoided his gaze and looked down at his feet that looked tiny in Seungwoo’s slippers, “You don’t need to promise me anything. Come back when you feel better.”

Seungwoo leaned closer, his breath brushing past Wooseok’s ear, “Won’t you miss me, Wooseok-ah?”

Startled by the sudden proximity, Wooseok was beyond flustered, to the extent where he no longer could control what came out of his mouth, “Hyung!” He could feel his ears turning red—all of the blood in his body probably rushed upwards because of Han Seungwoo.

Surprisingly, there was no teasing, no laughter, nothing at all. Wooseok peeked up through his lashes, only to find that the man who made him this flustered was covering his face with both of his pale hands. Wooseok took a moment to admire how his hands basically covered his entire face, but he then spotted something more important. This time, Wooseok was sure that it wasn’t just his imagination—the state of Seungwoo’s ears probably mirrored that of his own. A muffled voice grumbled from behind the hands, “Wooseok-ah, how could you do this to me?”

The hilariousness of the situation amused Wooseok. He smiled his signature tight-lipped smile at Seungwoo as he found some courage he’d never had before, “You like it though, Seungwoo-_hyung_.”

After his bold moment, which lasted for approximately five seconds, the realisation of the implications of what he just said hit Wooseok. Taking advantage of the fact that Seungwoo was still flustered, Wooseok fled out of the apartment. It was only after he returned home that he remembered; he forgot to give Seungwoo his umbrella back.

PART IV

As a man of his word, Wooseok saw Seungwoo again the next morning in his café. Hangyul and Yohan were both back from their holidays, too. Wooseok watched as Seungwoo left for the kitchen as soon as the tell-tale bell rang, telling Yohan to take Wooseok’s order. If he were Seungwoo, he’d probably avoid himself too.

Wooseok was about to give his usual order of six Americanos, but something clicked in his mind. “Can I please get five iced Americanos and…” his face grew warm, “and one iced vanilla latte?” His voice was so quiet by the end that he wasn’t sure if Yohan heard it.

“Coming right up,” Yohan beamed, leaving for the kitchen instead of making the coffees.

After a mere few minutes, Yohan re-emerged with Seungwoo in tow. As soon as he came out, Wooseok could feel his unwavering gaze on him. He refused to look up and focused on his phone screen instead. _Wow this video of a husky eating a watermelon is so funny_.

“Kim Wooseok-sshi? Your special iced vanilla latte is ready.” A familiar teasing voice sounded right next to his ears.

Wooseok glanced up, “Special?”

“Special, because it was made by me, for you,” Seungwoo smiled his stupid snoopy smile. 

Wooseok could hear giggles coming from behind the counter. Hangyul and Yohan, those two idiots. _Can I just die right now_, Wooseok thought, but he couldn’t keep a smile off his face nonetheless.

Reaching over for the cup, Wooseok cleared his throat as he found a topic changer. “Your umbrella…” He suddenly paused. He could feel the weight of it in his backpack.

“I left it in the office.”

Seungwoo’s smile never wavered, “Bring it to me after work?”

Wooseok tried to hold Seungwoo’s gaze without turning into a beetroot, “I will. But only if you give me your number.” He could hear muffled squeals from the Two Idiots.

Seungwoo leaned in, similar to the way he did the night before, and whispered breathily, “Only if you come to dinner with me tonight.”

**Author's Note:**

> wooseok: !!!
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
hello hello. this is my first work on AO3 uwu i hope it was okay. constructive criticism is welcome!! (but don't be too mean pls i have a weak heart) my last fanfic writing experience dates back to 2012 (yes it was one direction u guessed it) so pls let me know if there are any aspects i can improve on, especially with characterisation, writing style, etc. love u!!!!!
> 
> Disclaimer: i actually don't know X1's preferences in dessert flavours, i picked vanilla bc i am personally obsessed with it. I only know that Seungwoo and Wooseok both (?) like mint chocolate EW so no i'm not gonna condone that kiND of beHaviOUr in my fic
> 
> come scream with me about seungwooseok seungseok ryeonseung yocat etc. on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/wxxshxn) hehe
> 
> other fics: [seungseok university au](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20963795), [seungwooseok orphan au](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20998967)


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